Officers are thought to have cordoned off the road at around 12pm today. Police were seen carrying out house-to-house enquiries in the area.

The police cordon first started at Norwood Road's junction with Sussex Road. The cordon was later moved back to an area near the railway bridge.

There is no access to Norwood Road from the cordon, which has caused problems for some residents. Meols Cop High is at the bottom end of Norwood Road.

One local resident said to Visiter.co.uk : "I got back from work earlier and tried to park, but couldn't get anywhere near my house."The police have cordoned off the road and won't let anyone drive through."The road is cordoned off at the junction with Sussex Road and the police tape was up to where United Utilities have been carrying out their roadworks a couple of hundreds yards away.

"But since they packed up and left police have now moved the police tape right back, towards Meols Cop Station and Meols Cop Bridge."They won't tell us what's happened - they just said they're waiting for their forensics team to arrive."

Another onlooker said: "There were police officers down there carrying out house to house inquiries, knocking on doors on Norwood Road and Keats Terrace."There are police cars down there at either end of the cordon and police community support officers there as well. "Whatever's happened it looks serious.

"Norwood Road is such a busy road, it's going to be very congested down there later when all the children finish for the day at Meols Cop High and rush hour starts."

Visiter.co.uk has requested a comment from Merseyside Police on the matter.